Wobbly Capilano Suspension Bridge

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Memories of Canada 

As Canada celebrates their 150th anniversary, promoted by the Canadian government as Canada 150, we take a look back at some of our memorable moments from cruises and tours to Canada.

This would be an excellent time for you to visit Canada, as there will be year long celebrations throughout the land


Vancouver, British Columbia

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city in Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. British Columbia (BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, with a population of more than four million people located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. Once again we are highlighting one of the attractions in BC that is worth visiting.

We've visited Vancouver on many occasions, usually in conjunction with a cruise.   Alaska cruises often start or end there.  We suggest adding some extra time to your vacation, so that you can take full advantage of everything that Vancouver and surrounding area has to offer.

View the Entire Capilano Suspension Bridge Photo Album

Take a Walk on the Wild Side

The 450 ft (137m) long, 230 ft (70m) high Capilano Suspension Bridge has thrilled visitors since 1889. While the wobbly bridge and stunning location is a Vancouver landmark, Capilano Suspension Bridge Park offers an all-encompassing BC experience. One of the highlights for me was Treetops Adventure which takes guests 100 feet into the mid-story of a coastal rain-forest on seven suspension bridges attached to old-growth trees. It is accessible to guests of all ages. Nature guides provide hourly tours, explaining the importance of a West Coast temperate rain-forest to the ecosystem.  If you are afraid of height, this might not be the attraction for you.

Capilano Suspension Bridge is an attraction that was named  the 7th best attraction in Canada by USA Today.  10Best travel guide ranked the top 20 nominees, and the public decided the final 10. View the entire list here: the top ten attractions in Canada.

Do you have favorite memories from visits to Canada?  We'd love to hear about them.

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Peggy's Point Lighthouse

Memories of Canada

As Canada celebrates their 150th anniversary, promoted by the Canadian government as Canada 150, we take a look back at some of our memorable moments from cruises and tours to Canada.

This would be an excellent time for you to visit Canada, as there will be year long celebrations throughout the land.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Our next stop along our Canadian memory lane finds us in Nova Scotia ("New Scotland"), one of Canada's three Maritime provinces, and one of the four provinces which form Atlantic Canada. Halifax is the provincial capital of Nova Scotia. A major business center, it’s also known for its maritime history. The city’s dominated by the hilltop Citadel, a star-shaped fort completed in the 1850s. Waterfront warehouses known as the Historic Properties recall Halifax’s days as a trading hub for privateers, notably during the War of 1812.

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Peggy's Cove

Peggy's Cove is a small rural community located on the eastern shore of St. Margarets Bay in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality, which is famous for the Peggy's Point Lighthouse (established 1868). Peggy's Cove is 43 kilometers (26 miles) southwest of Downtown Halifax and comprises one of the numerous small fishing communities located around the perimeter of the Chebucto Peninsula.

Just last month, Peggy's Point Lighthouse - Peggy's Cove was named the 6th best attraction in Canada by USA Today. USA Today’s 10Best travel guide ranked the top 20 nominees, and the public decided the final 10. View the entire list here: the top ten attractions in Canada.

View the Entire Peggy's Cove Photo Album

We first visited Halifax and Peggy's Cove during the maiden voyage of Norwegian Sun in 2001. Our cruise began in Paris the day that the World Trade Center was attacked. This was a trans-Atlantic voyage which would stop in several locations, including two in Canada before sailing to New York. In Halifax we met people who had taken passengers from grounded airlines into their homes. On this cruise we primarily toured the fishing villages in the area. We will look at Halifax again in another post to revisit the maritime heritage of this area.

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Tides of the Bay of Fundy

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Memories of Canada

As Canada celebrates their 150th anniversary, promoted by the Canadian government as Canada 150, we continue taking a look back at some of our memorable moments from cruises and tours to Canada.

This would be an excellent time for you to visit Canada, as there will be year long celebrations throughout the land.

New Brusnwick

Our next stop down memory lane brings us to the Atlantic (east coast) side of Canada. New Brunswick (French: Nouveau-Brunswick) is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces, together with Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, and is the only bilingual (English–French) province of Canada. This is a typical port of call during a Canada & New England cruise.

We booed a very unique shore excursion in Saint John, NB.   Our guide for the day was a professional photographer who took us to various locations where we could experiment with different techniques.  It was a small group, so he was able to provide individual attention to each of us.   If you like photography, consider checking either the ship's excursions or with local guides for a similar tour.  We quite enjoyed the experience.  This post will only concentrate on one stop of our tour.

Bay of Fundy - Reversing Falls

The Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is one of the 7 wonders of North America due to recording the highest tides on earth along with having the rarest whales of the world.

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The Bay of Fundy was recently named the 3rd best attraction in Canada by USA Today. USA Today’s 10Best travel guide ranked the top 20 nominees, and the public decided the final 10. View the entire list here: the top ten attractions in Canada.

A unique phenomenon created by the collision of the Bay of Fundy and the Saint John River. At low tide the river empties into the bay causing a series of rapids and whirlpools. As tides rise they slow the river current for a brief period called slack tide. The Bay's tides continue to rise, gradually reversing the flow of the river, and rapids form again, peaking at high tide. Tide cycles take about 12.5 hours.

During our visit to New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy, our ship docked early in the morning and we toured the bay.   You'll note from these pictures that the gangplank had a steep angle in the morning when we disembarked the ship, but when we returned several hours later, the tide was low and the gangplank was now almost completely level with the pier and the ship was lower in the water.

The unique thing about this excursion was that we visited the Bay of Fundy twice so we could observe the change of directions cause by the tides.

Did you know that over 160 billion tons of water move in and out of the Bay of Fundy, every day, twice a day?

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Visit to Buchart Gardens

Memories of Canada

As Canada celebrates their 150th anniversary, promoted by the Canadian government as Canada 150, we take a look back at some of our memorable moments from cruises and tours to Canada.

This would be an excellent time for you to visit Canada, as there will be year long celebrations throughout the land.

British Columbia

Our first stop on this trip down memory lane finds us in British Columbia, Canada. The capital of British Columbia remains Victoria, the fifteenth-largest metropolitan region in Canada, named for the Queen who created the original European colonies. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, the largest in Western Canada, and the third-largest in the Pacific Northwest.

Canada in Bloom

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Over a century ago, Jennie Butchart began building what is now one of the world’s premier floral show gardens. The Butchart Gardens is a group of floral display gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada, located near Victoria on Vancouver Island. The gardens receive close to a million visitors each year. The gardens have been designated a National Historic Site of Canada.

Just last month, Butchart Gardens was named the 8th best attraction in Canada by USA Today. USA Today’s 10Best travel guide ranked the top 20 nominees, and the public decided the final 10. View the entire list here: the top ten attractions in Canada.

We have had the good fortune of visiting The Buchart Gardens multiple times. Here is a sampling of images from our most recent visit, which was during an Alaska cruise, when we stopped in Victoria.

View Entire Album:  The Buchart Gardens

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